The Theatre of Power Is Moving.

The Hague, city of law and treaties, is preparing to host one of the most consequential NATO summits in modern memory. But this time, there is no applause. No commemorative flags. No peace dividend to celebrate. Instead, we find a continent jolted awake, and a host nation politically adrift.

Europe is not waiting for the future anymore. It is being pulled into it.

According to the Dutch Advisory Council on International Affairs (AIV), we have reached the end of the transatlantic illusion. America is no longer our default insurance policy. Our deterrence strategy has become an inheritance we cannot afford. The NATO alliance is still alive, but the lifeline is fraying — and the burden is shifting.

The question is no longer whether Europe can afford to lead. The question is whether we can survive if we don’t.

Dependency Was Comfortable. Responsibility Never Is.

The AIV report speaks with clarity: Europe has coasted on American support long enough. Dutch defense spending was stagnant for years, even as our own intelligence and deterrence capacities remained critically underdeveloped. It is only recently that we began to meet the 2 percent GDP benchmark. But meeting a number is not the same as meeting a moment.

Entrepreneurs and business owners take note: security is not a ministry’s concern. It is a market condition. Without it, capital withers, logistics choke, and contracts lose meaning. Europe is waking up to this. Are you?

Sovereignty Requires Infrastructure

The report makes no attempt to hide where our vulnerabilities lie. Europe’s gaps in missile defense, drone warfare, cyber resilience, and high-altitude intelligence are not only technical. They are moral. We delegated the hard parts of sovereignty. We avoided making long-term investments in strategic enablers, and in doing so, we created a culture of tactical optimism and structural denial.

For the Netherlands, this means reckoning with our industrial potential. The AIV rightfully calls out the need for national participation in European defense supply chains, long-term contracts, and legislative reform to allow rapid production scale-up. This is not just a government agenda. It is a generational task.

Our companies, our universities, and our institutions must decide: do we wish to be strategic contributors or polite observers?

Diplomacy is Not Enough Anymore

A recurring theme in the report is this: diplomacy without capability is performance. Europe must develop the command structures, defense industries, and operational readiness to act autonomously if necessary. The AIV calls for the creation of a European Security Council, not to replace NATO, but to ensure that Europe does not become collateral in transatlantic fatigue.

This is not about independence from the United States. It is about credibility toward ourselves.

For Entrepreneurs: Strategy Must Expand Beyond Balance Sheets

To the entrepreneurs reading this, I urge you to widen your risk frameworks. This moment is not just about defense procurement or new EU-level contracts. It is about building decision systems resilient enough to survive volatility. Geopolitical risk is no longer abstract. It is embedded in compliance, supply chains, workforce design, and investment forecasting.

The new ESG is not only about environment, society, and governance. It is about Europe, Security, and Guarantees.

And Now, A Footnote That Isn't a Footnote

As if on cue, the very country preparing to host the NATO summit has collapsed its own government.

Today, June 3rd, Geert Wilders pulled out of coalition talks, citing irreconcilable differences over migration policy. This abrupt exit has once again left the Netherlands without a functioning government — a nation asked to host, lead, and represent European resilience is now adrift in domestic instability.

Let us be honest. The symbolism is stark. A country that should be presenting unity and readiness to NATO allies is now trapped in internal fragmentation and populist volatility.

This does not discredit the recommendations of the AIV. It amplifies them. If we cannot maintain political coherence at home, how can we project strategic responsibility abroad?

We do not need panic. We need principles. We do not need slogans. We need structures.

No One Else Is Coming

The age of reliance is over. There will be no last-minute rescue flight from Washington. Europe is being asked to become what it has long claimed to be.

And the Netherlands — still wealthy, still technically capable, still diplomatically influential — is being asked whether it can lead. Not with perfect coalitions or pristine budgets, but with clarity, commitment, and courage.